For a few years my cortisol levels were so low that every doctor I went to wanted me to take cortisol orally (I never did because it made me feel stressed out and also I was trying to not take too many pills). The consensus seemed to be that my body had been under so much stress for so long that I'd passed the high cortisol phase and now my body just couldn't barely produce any... A la Addison's disease, or adrenal crisis.

I just got my newest labwork back and my cortisol level is off the charts high. I don't even know how this is possible.. I thought my body wasn't capable of that anymore!

Could this be because I began treating the lyme? Has the illness, or treating it, affected anyone else's cortisol levels? Could it be because I've been taking clonazepam to sleep at night?

I do feel seriously tired/wired as high cortisol would suggest. What do folks do for this?

I, too, am getting ready to start treatment for Lyme/co-infections. For the past year, my doctor has been treating adrenal insufficiency diagnosed from a saliva cortisol test. However, my blood cortisol when taken has always been in the middle range. So, I am curious to find out how Lyme/Co-infections affects the adrenals and cortisol levels.

Im going to take another saliva cortisol test in the next week or so and compare to past ones. It will be a few weeks but will post results. I have been in treatment now 6 monthsStarted anaplasma and mycoplasma treatment 03/2014. Tens years sick. Hoping to see consistent improvement this year.

If the blood test for cortisol is not done at or near 8am, and if you aren't fasting (nothing orally except water), then the cortisol reading may not be accurate...and most MD's don't tell this to their patients when they order the test, thus most don't know to be fasting for the test.

Lyme is good at really messing with our hormones, so it is possible for us to have more variety in our test results than otherwise may be expected.

Yes, there are things that can reduce excess cortisol. More importantly is the timing (time of day) of the elevated cortisol - hence why many believe the saliva cortisol testing to be more relevant to clinical use.

Thanks Razzle. It was at 9am and fasting so I think it's probably fairly accurate. I'm just alarmed that there's been such a drastic shift... That I went from dangerously low cortisol to dangerously high.. I wonder when it happened! I'm really looking forward to talking to my doctor about it.

It makes sense, though, in that I do feel different than before. Stressed in a more acute way.

A few years ago my body wasn't producing enough cortisol. This indicated that my body had been producing such high levels for so long that my adrenals were fatigued. This is a dangerous state and various doctors insisted on my taking cortisol pills. I couldn't seem to tolerate them so the issue was dropped and we focused on supporting my adrenals.

Last week I again got my levels tested and now my cortisol levels were in the dangerously high range.

My doctor said this indicates that my body is in a very different state than it was three years ago. On a good note, my adrenals are working again. On a less good note, my body is behaving as though it is in a state of constant crisis. If something doesn't change I could easily go back into the dangerous adrenal fatigue state. There are also just a bunch of bad things associated with high cortisol -- poor sleep, feeling on edge, messed up female hormones -- all of which I have.

My doctor said that what could be causing the high cortisol is: emotional stress, illness, and blood sugar.

1. I've definitely been emotionally stressed, family things I can't control but can try to better protect myself.

2. Lyme disease

3. Because eating makes me feel so nauseous, I've come up with a way to be vaguely productive with my day by barely eating. My doctor really scolded me about this. Looks like if I want my cortisol levels to improve I'm going to have to eat sooner in the day, eat throughout the day, and eat more fat and protein.